Japan Rail Pass Questions: 14 or 7 day pass? Itinerary Suggestions?

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14 or 7 day pass? Itinerary Suggestions? Hi guys, I am flying in from Australia with a friend.. I've currently got my trip all planned out and have gotten return flights to Kansai Airport, with the first 8 nights Accommodation organised.. still trying to pick hotels for the last leg of the trip and determine the best option for my JR pass (7 or 14 days). Below is my Itinerary as well as travel costs I've managed to research from Hyperdia.. I've got a hunch that 14 days would suit better.. especially because this doesn't take into account mini-trips that we may take going from district to district within Tokyo - I just wanted an opinion as we are both on a tight budget and any saving we can make is worth it :) Itinerary Wed, 11 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys Thu, 12 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys Fri, 13 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys Sat, 14 May - Kobe - Chisun Hotel Sun, 15 May - Kobe - Chisun Hotel Mon, 16 May - Hiroshima/Miyajima - Urbain Hiroshima Executive Tue, 17 May - Kyoto - Hotel Anteroom Wed, 18 May - Kyoto - Hotel Anteroom Thu, 19 May - Nagoya/Mie [Nagashima Spa Land] then Tokyo (night) Fri, 20 May - Tokyo - Somewhere in Roppongi/Akasaka? Sat, 21 May - Tokyo - Somewhere in Roppongi/Akasaka? Sun, 22 May - Tokyo - Somewhere in Shinjuku/Shibuya? Mon, 23 May - Tokyo - Somewhere in Shinjuku/Shibuya? Tue, 24 May - Osaka - ? Wed, 25 May - Osaka - Head home.. Train Costs 11th - 7pm > Kansai Aiport to Osaka-Namba > ¥890.00 14th - 2pm > Osaka to Kobe > ¥400.00 16th - 9am > Kobe to Hiroshima > ¥9,210.00 17th - 10am > Hiroshima to Kyoto > ¥10,990.00 19th - 9am > Kyoto to Nagoya (Bus to Nagashima SL) > ¥2,520.00 19th - 7pm > Nagoya to Tokyo > ¥10,580.00 24th - 10am > Tokyo to Osaka > ¥13,750.00 25th - 5pm > Osaka-Namba to Kansai Airport > ¥890.00 Total ¥49,230.00 Thanks in Advance :) Any advice is appreciated!!	Andy_114 circa 2 anni ago 5537 views 3 posts
Looks like a great trip! (and good job with the markdown!) If you stick with your current itinerary, then you are certainly best to get a 14 day rail pass - according to your itinerary, you will save a minimum of ¥4,100, and as you say, you'll probably save more as you use it to travel around Tokyo. However... reviewing your trip, there is a simple change you could make that would let you manage it on a 7 day pass rather than 14 day: rearrange your accommodation in Hiroshima... The idea is that Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe are all in pretty much the same area, with cheap travel between them all - Osaka to Kyoto is around ¥500, so there's little point on using a JRPass for these sorts of journey. If you group these cities in your itinerary, then you would get to all the same places, and also save a bunch of money in the process by only needing a 7 day pass: Itinerary Wed, 11 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys - standard ticket Thu, 12 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys - standard ticket Fri, 13 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys - standard ticket Sat, 14 May - Kobe - Chisun Hotel - standard ticket Sun, 15 May - Kobe - Chisun Hotel - standard ticket Mon, 16 May - Kyoto - Hotel Anteroom - standard ticket Tue, 17 May - Kyoto - Hotel Anteroom - standard ticket Wed, 18 May - Hiroshima/Miyajima - 7 day pass day 1 Thu, 19 May - Nagoya/Mie [SL] then Tokyo (night) - 7 day pass day 2 Fri, 20 May - Tokyo - 7 day pass day 3 Sat, 21 May - Tokyo - 7 day pass day 4 Sun, 22 May - Tokyo - 7 day pass day 5 Mon, 23 May - Tokyo - 7 day pass day 6 Tue, 24 May - Osaka - 7 day pass day 7 Wed, 25 May - Osaka - Head home - standard ticket Train Costs 11th - 7pm > Kansai Aiport to Osaka-Namba > ¥890.00 14th - 2pm > Osaka to Kobe > ¥400.00 16th - 9am > Kobe to Kyoto > ¥1,050 18th - 10am > Kyoto to Hiroshima > ¥10,790.00 19th - 9am > Hiroshima to Nagoya (Bus to Nagashima SL) > ¥10,790.00+bus 19th - 7pm > Nagoya to Tokyo > ¥10,580.00 24th - 10am > Tokyo to Osaka > ¥13,750.00 25th - 5pm > Osaka-Namba to Kansai Airport > ¥890.00 It all boils down to whether you can rearrange your hotels. I suppose Hiroshima to Tokyo including Nagashima all in one day is a long trip, but there are savings to be made if you can handle it! Besides which, you could actually go down to Nagoya/Nagashima from Tokyo and back on a day trip with your JR Pass while you are in Tokyo - it would make a nice change! Standard tickets: ¥3,230 7 day pass: ¥28,300 Total cost: ¥31,530 (saving of 13,600 over a 14 day pass, or ¥17,700 over 100% standard tickets tickets) Hope this helps! M 0 useful!	mari circa 2 anni ago 462 likes 1933 posts
Thanks a bunch for the swift reply!! :-) I like your idea, I've made my bookings already but I will see how hard it is to rearrange my accommodation to suit !! Would be a decent saving indeed. I think the main reason I placed Hiroshima where I did was because heading back to Kyoto then onto Nagoya is, as you mentioned, much shorter than Hiroshima->Nagoya->Tokyo ... It will be one long day! I will investigate re-arranging my booking :) Thanks again Mari :-) Kind Regards, Andrew 0 useful!	Andy_114 circa 2 anni ago 0 likes 3 posts
I've changed the booking around :-) My itinerary now looks like this (had to change accom in Kyoto and also booked in my Tokyo hotels). Itinerary Wed, 11 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys Thu, 12 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys Fri, 13 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys Sat, 14 May - Kobe - Chisun Hotel Sun, 15 May - Kobe - Chisun Hotel Mon, 16 May - Kyoto - Super Hotel Kyoto Shijo Kawaramachi Tue, 17 May - Kyoto - Super Hotel Kyoto Shijo Kawaramachi Wed, 18 May - Hiroshima/Miyajima - Urbain Hiroshima Executive Thu, 19 May - Nagoya/Mie [Nagashima Spa Land] then Tokyo (night) - Hotel Asia Center of Japan Fri, 20 May - Tokyo - Hotel Asia Center of Japan Sat, 21 May - Tokyo - Mitsui Garden Hotel Yotsuya Sun, 22 May - Tokyo - Mitsui Garden Hotel Yotsuya Mon, 23 May - Tokyo - Mitsui Garden Hotel Yotsuya Tue, 24 May - Osaka - ? Wed, 25 May - Osaka - Head home.. Let me know what you think :-) I'll be booking in my JRPasses today.. It's a shame they went up in price today a bit due to fluctuating currency rates.. Oh well.... I hope 2 weeks is enough time to order and receive them.. 0 useful!	Andy_114 circa 2 anni ago 0 likes 3 posts
Looks great! Delivery to Australia is a 3 day service and is very punctual, but be sure to add an extra day for processing too. M 0 useful!	mari circa 2 anni ago 462 likes 1933 posts
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